But how do you justify right and wrong in atheism?
(Right and wrong? Well thats easy. We feel pain and suffering. We consider these to be bad. We feel a sense of connectivity to others. We internalize their pain. By extension of this we can see that their suffering is wrong. In this way we discover the basis of morality. This is all the result of our biological condition. Our social nature. Literally speaking we are impelled towards goodness because we internalize what happens to others. We learn to treat others as we wish to be treated ourselves due to our human nature.)
So is rape wrong in atheism?
just wondering
54 comments
Yes, it is. See, that would fall under the already-covered category of "pain and suffering." Is rape wrong in Christianty, fuckwad?
That makes me think that the one who has no empathy towards others is you, Christian man. Ask any woman what they feel when they're forced to have sex against their wills and if it's applies to what our friend says. Let's remember that it was Moses who said do unto others what you would like to be done.
"Of course rape is wrong to most of us. We think the same way you do, after all."
Sadly, you don't. Read some of the other fundie quotes on rape sometime. Fundies have no problem with rape. Rape VICTIMS, on the other hand...
"in atheism?" It's not a religion, dude. It's not even a belief system. I think most atheists would agree that rape is wrong, but just asking that idiotic question illustrates that you don't know what the hell you're talking about. Not that anyone thought you did, but seriously...
Of course it's wrong, it's always wrong whether one is atheist or not, dipshit.
Just because we atheists don't subscribe to your God and Jesus nonsense doesn't make us unethical, we just don't base our ethics upon ancient fairy tales written by ignorant, misogynistic, genocidal bastards.
Anything that harms an individual is detrimental to social harmony, and social harmony is necessary for survival, health, and happiness. Evolution has given us empathy so we (hopefully) don't want to hurt others and throw off the stability and security of our group. It's bad for everyone, since we depend so much on each other.
Here's a thing. Atheism, being a negative position, takes no position on morality. That said, a great number of atheists are, more or less, humanists, which derives what I would consider a fairly strong sense of morality (admittedly not a moral code for the lazy) from the ideas that the best thing to do is that which benefits the population the most, and that there are such things as victimless crimes (i.e. crimes that harm only the criminal) that are often best downplayed or ignored.
From this proceeds the idea that the strongest indicator of what is and isn't moral is mutual respect, and from there the idea that informed consent is critical to virtually all social interaction. From that logic, most concisely summed up in the Wiccan Rede and the Golden Rule, and not merely from the arbitrary positions of some people who happen to be godless, comes the idea of "atheist" morality and the idea that rape is wrong.
In more concrete terms, rape violates the personal space and right to self-determination (over one's life and one's body, specifically) of one person and the trust of the community at large. Even if there is no physical injury, the rape victim has still been deprived of the ability to consent, and has been unwillingly exposed to any number of problems from public humiliation and psychiatric distress to lethal sexually-transmitted diseases. Only a particularly dimwitted nihilist could argue that any of this is irrelevant.
And now I feel decidedly dirty having dug this deep, in such a clinical manner, into the reasons why rape is wrong, and I have to go do something.
So, Trevor, is rape wrong in Christianity? Just wondering.
And before you answer, please consider Genesis 19:7-8, Deuteronomy 22:28-29, et al.
what I said. The reasoning of this guy is "as most victims of rape are women, and the way who proposed the definition is a man and I'm a man, the reasoning is irrelevant". Of course, he's unable to follow the Golden Rule.
Yes, atheists generally think rape is wrong.
The writers of the Old Testament, however, seem to have a different opinion on the matter.
Rape is always wrong, unless you are talking about a Fundie husband taking what is biblically his from his poor oppressed wife. Then it's just a man being the head of his family, exerting his God-given right to use that bitch as he pleases. Fortunately she doesn't know any better.
Rape is completely, utterly wrong, and will never be right, in any circumstances.
But atheism =/= a religion with set rules. Some secular ethical theories say that rape can be justified in certain, extreme circumstances. I disagree.
Why yes, yes it is. Somehow, as you don't seem to get that it meets the PAIN and SUFFERING criteria, I'm betting deep down that you don't.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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